THE family of a York brain tumour victim has launched a £30,000 appeal towards the cost of undergoing specialist treatment abroad.

Emily Nicholson, 24, says her cancer has spread to a part of her brain which surgeons cannot reach, and her only hope now is to undergo expensive immunotherapy vaccine treatment in Germany.

“I spent most of Christmas in hospital trying to get strong for the fight ahead,” she said on the GoFundMe fundraising platform. “I lost the use of my left side and suffered facial palsy.”

This is the second appeal to have been launched on Emily’s behalf.

The Press reported in 2016 how, having emigrated to Australia four years earlier from their home in the Monkton Road area of York, more than £8,000 was raised to pay for Emily, who has also used the surname Rhodes, to come back to York to see her old friends for one final time.

Fundraising activities then included a family fun day held at New Earswick Sports Club, a sponsored roller-skate and a raffle with a difference, with the prize being to get their phrase tattooed on a man’s leg.

She thrived so well during the three-week visit that her family subsequently decided to sell their home in Perth and come back to live in York.

Emily, now of Foxwood, said recently on GoFundMe that the family had been back for 18 months and had "lost everything", with her mother and father being declared bankrupt because they couldn’t sell their house quickly enough.

She said the family had been two weeks away from being homeless before being given a council house.

“Through all this I was having daily maintenance chemo, it made me really sick,” she said.

“We got through all this because we love each other and won’t give up.

“We will be selling everything we have to go towards the cost but need your help.

“Brain cancer kills more children and young people under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet it receives less than one per cent of funding.”

Lisa Harrison, a friend of Emily’s mother Joanne Nicholson, said she was planning a fundraising event from 12pm to 7pm on Sunday, March 24, at York Acorn Amateur Rugby League Club in Thanet Road, Dringhouses, with live music, raffle, tombola, barbecue, face painting, kids’ tattoos and more.

“Prior to that, there is a pig race night with raffle at Clarence WMC from 7pm onward on Saturday, January 26, with free entry, and also an evening of mediumship with Louise Violet Carr and a raffle on Friday, February 22, at New Earswick Sports Club in White Rose Avenue. Doors open at 7.15pm and it starts at 7.30pm. Entry is £6.”

She said she was also planning to take part in a marathon in June and wanted to invite people to join the Team Emily 2019 Facebook page.

*More than £2,000 has already been raised for the appeal. To donate, go to https://www.gofundme.com/emily-beating-brain-cancer.